Chapter 4: Simple Day

It was just another day at Mont Saint-Michel for the young members of Dog Company as they tried to pass the time. It had been a few days since the attack on the base, and most of everything in the base was replaced or being repaired.

Most of the soldiers didn't seem at all affected by the recent assault on the base since it wasn't their first time fighting the Neuroi. Most young soldiers would've been scarred from what had happened, most of the new members of the company were still a bit shaken up by their first taste of combat, however, the older members wouldn't let it phase them. The young men who had been in the unit the longest had witnessed first-hand the destruction the Neuroi could cause with just a few of their weapons. Some of them eventually learned how to handle the combat they would go through on a daily basis, some learned how to turn the combat into amusement. Being sent to the base in a way would helped them, but most of them would agree with their staff sergeant and say being here was a obstacle and a waste of time. Most of them wanted to go back to their playground they called the battlefield do what they were trained to do: Kill off the Neuroi.

The boys of dog company just spent their time around the base doing various things, along with their Britannian counterparts, who were stuck on the small base for the same reason, more or less. As the day began, Corporal Garcia and Corporal Bishop spent the day in the hangar with a couple other squads. The hangar wasn't all that busy since only a few people decided to stay in it.
There was only a few soldiers here and there who was passing the time by conducting maintenance or fooling around doing nothing. Corporal Garcia chose the latter while bishop chose the former. Garcia leaned back in his metal chair as he cleaned his Browning Automatic rifle. He inspected the weapon up and down looking for anything to prevent it from functioning right. After the recent attack, all military personnel were advised to keep their weapons near them no matter in case of emergency, Garcia took this as a chance to make excuses. As he took a puff of the cigarette he had between his lips, Garcia noticed Bishop had turned his attention from the floor to him.

"What's wrong with you?" Garcia asked confused at why he was getting a deep stare down from his peer.

"How bout yo lazy ass help for a little bit, Garcia?" Bishop asked as Garcia took the cigarette out his mouth to speak clearly.

"What you talking about, I'm helping."

"You've been cleaning ya weapon for a hot minute, how is that helping?" Bishop questioned, clearly frustrated.

"Gotta keep it working in case we get attacked again." Garcia said with a smirk plastered on his mouth.

"Oh, right, cause yo lone gun is gon save us all from a fuckin attack." Bishop retorted sarcastically. He started to grow aggravated of the soldiers constant slacking off at the moment.

"Besides, how bout you get the new guy to help ya?"

"Because he been helping this whole time." Bishop stated as he pointed to the newest member of their company, who was a few feet behind Bishop helping unload ammo crates out of the back of a jeep.

"He been moving shit all morning, just go and relieve him so he can take a break."

"Why for, he looks fine to me, besides, I ain't heard nothin from the sergeant yet so i should be g-" Garcia was abruptly stopped in the middle of his sentence when someone's helmet came flying through the air and crashed straight down on his head. The sudden rush of pain caused the corporal to tumble out of his chair as he held the back of his head in agony as he was on his knee cursing under his breath. Bishop let out a small chuckle as he looked in the direction of where the helmet came from. walking into the hangar was staff sergeant Hester with his rifle slung over his shoulder as always and a look of annoyance on his face. The young Sergeant grew tired of Garcia's constant laziness, he had been that way ever since they met. Hester had finally caught him in the act and wasn't going to let him get a pass.

"Nigra, if you dont get yo black ass up and help, Imma put you on night watch every single night for the next month!" Hester's voice raised as he picked the helmet up and put on the nearby table. Bishop finally got up, still rubbing his head as the discomfort began to dull down. Bishop then turned to face Hester with a face of confusion.

"YOU JUST THROW A FUCKIN HELMET AT ME?!" Garcia angrily lashed out.

"Yes the fuck I did," Hester replied without a care in his voice "you need to help out, lazy muthafucka."

Bishop, who just stood on the sidelines laughing at the cost of one of his many friends, decided to try and help the situation.

"Alright just calm down, calm down," He said, placing his hand on the corporal's shoulder, "Just go and relieve him" Bishop pointed back at the young soldier who was still unloading boxes off the truck. Garcia looked at Bishop and then back to the sergeant, who was signaling him to go where he was told.

Garcia reluctantly nodded, "I heard ya, sergeant." Garcia picked up his rifle and slung it over his shoulder as he made his way to the truck. Hester turned his attention to the other corporal as Garcia finally wondered off.

"Everything going alright, Sergeant?" Bishop adressed Hester, who still looked agitated. He could clearly see something was on him mind. The sergeant hesitated a bit before talking.

"We got a few of our guys who gettin sent back home, the injuries are pretty rough." Hester said.

"So then we down a few more soldiers?" Bishop asked.

"looks like it." Hester rubbed his shaved head as he looked down at the ground. The situations he and his soldiers had to go through were for battle hardened men, not kids. The constant stress from the week almost caused him to break open a pack of cigarettes he was saving. But, He somehow built up the willpower to just tuck it back in his pocket. Hester turned around and took a seat in the previously occupied chair.

The few days D company had spent here was pretty much like they were expected to be. Instead of being somewhere farther in Europe, fighting off the enemy, they were stuck on base, acting as quartermasters and mechanics, which was a job most of them despised.

"I thought this was suppose to be our time away from fighting everyday." Bishop said as he grabbed a chair and sat beside the young nco. Bishop was one of the few people who agreed with this decision to be put into rear detachment. He thought of it as a chance to rest and get away from the stress of the war. their unit has fought so hard to win they almost forgot what a simple day was like.

"Please, that'd be too easy," Hester said, "besides, We ain't fightin everyday...just every week." He ended with a slight grin on his face, which, did not amuse the junior nco and got him rewarded with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm just playin man I'm just trynna keep my cool is all."

"I know, man...I know." Bishop responded.

"You heard anything from the L.T.?

"Not yet, he left with Commander Wilcke to have a meeting with a few higher ups to give them a report on the base, so he should be back in a few."

"Other than that, what's happening today?" Bishop asked.

"Nothing much, other than maintenance around the place, that's it for today."

"which means you don't need everybody in here...right?"

"Not really, why?" Hester asked already knowing what Bishop was going to ask.

"I was gonna take me and few other guys to go exercise for a bit is all."

"Why? We just did P.T. this morning." Hester probed. He couldn't think of any reason why Garcia felt like training in the middle of the workday.

"Garcia and I made a deal: who can ever beat who on the most pushups gets 20 dollars and bragging rights." He responded.

"The fuck is up with you two and betting all the time?" Hester asked as he grabbed the ridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger at the thought of the two's constant gambling with each other. He could tell them to stop, but he knew that was there only way of passing time around here. He thought for a minute before something else caught his attention as he turn towards the sound of footsteps coming from the hangar entrance.

"ROOM, ATTENTION!" Hester shouted as he shot out of his chair and went to the position of attention. Immediately, every soldier in the area dropped what they were doing and copied their NCO as a blonde witch with glasses walked towards the men. She halted as last man went to attention and she looked around at they small group of soldiers who were still like statues.

"Carry on." She said adding a flick of her hand with it, giving all of them the signal to go back to whatever it was they were doing. The witch continued her towards the table Bishop and Hester were standing next to, possibly to talk to the NCO in charge. As she got closer, both of the young men stayed out of their seats and put their arms behind their back.

"Lieutenant Clostermann, how are you, ma'am?" Bishop addressed her with a friendly smile on his face.

"Corporal...Sergeant." She responded. This was one of the few witches some of the men did not like on account of her attitude and the way she carried herself. Hester and Jackson had nothing to say about her for the fact that they dealt with worse officers than her in their time, but most of the lower enlisted disliked being around her since she seemed like she was always trying to talk down to them.

"What can we do for you today?" Hester questioned, expecting more waste of time tasks.

"As a matter of fact, there is," Perrine said as she crossed her arms and stared at the two young men, "I would greatly appreciate it if you kept your soldiers in check." Her voice becoming more stern and demanding. They couldn't figure out what the girl was talking about. While the soldiers did have a few screw ups from here to here, they never did anything to attract attention from the officers.

"What seems to be the problem, Ma'am?" Hester asked looking for a reason to the demands. He knew it had to be something of barely any importance when it came to Lieutenant Clostermann. The soldiers knew her as the one to come and bother them for tedious reasons. He wondered what it could be this time.

"FIRST OFF, THEY SHOULD KNOW THERE ARE LADIES PRESENT ON THIS BASE AT ALL TIMES, SO WHY DO SOME OF THEM CONTINUE TO STAY OUT OF UNIFORM?!" She shouted, waving her hands in the air. Hester looked around to see a few of his guys were either wearing a white undershirt or no shirt at all as they worked. He could see why the female lieutenant felt some type of way towards it.

"Well I had let my guys know that they could downgrade from their tops since it had started to get hot, ma'am and I didn't want them passing out." Hester replied. This caused Perrine to cross her arms and raise her eyebrow at the young NCO. To her, it just seemed like a excuse from the Sergeant.

"Be that as it may, that is no excuse for these boys to-"

"Men, Ma'am."

Perrine turned to the source of the interruption who was Corporal Bishop, who was now standing at ease, as he was looking down at the lieutenant who he could clearly tell was younger than him, causing him to talk back to her.

"Excuse me, Corporal." She asked as if she just heard an insult. Bishop had no problem repeating his self.

"With all due respect, these soldiers have been through too much to be called boys. So, I'm asking respectfully that you refer to them as the titles they earned, be it soldiers or men." Corporal Bishop sternly said to her as he still stared down at her. The comment had gotten to Perrine as she visibly was a bit frustrated by the interruption. But, before she could even say anything back, Hester had to step in to get rid of the tension.

"Easy, Corporal, that's no attitude to have towards a officer." Hester said as he gave him a quick wink, making sure the Lieutenant didn't see it. Bishop just nodded to show he understood. He knew Hester was on his side on this matter so he calmed down.

"Roger, Sergeant," Bishop responded, "Excuse me for the outburst, Ma'am."

"You're excused." Perrine replied in a distasteful way, she then returned her attention back to Hester who was waiting for her to express anymore of her grievances.

"Secondly, I would like for you to let them know that there will be no smoking in the hangar area, it reeks of cigarettes in here." She emphasized. The hangar did have a bit of tobacco smell to it but Hester was sure no one smoking in there, it was just probably the few people who she walked pasted who had it stuck to their clothes.

"Of course, I'll take care of it right away, anything else, Ma'am?" He respectfully asked. "That'll be all, Sergeant, just keep your men in check." Perrine ordered as she walked away. "I can't stand that little girl, get the lieutenant rank and you feel like you can tell anybody what to do." Bishop blurted out once they were free of the young witch. "What you think a officers job is, dumbass," Hester chuckled out, "Just go and take your these guys out of here before things get stupid, I'll take care of things over here." Hester said.

"You Sure?" Bishop asked to be assured. "Just go, we ain't got nothing else to do today. Just stay in uniform." Hester replied as he began heading towards the door in the back of the hangar.

"Well, alright then. Garcia, Grab the new kid and everyone else and we'll meet by the strip!" bishop shouted at the other Corporal who responded with a grin and a head nod.

Bishop was outside and waiting for everyone else to show up by the landing strip. As he was waiting he could see two people running up the landing strip. He got a closer look and could see it was two witches: one looked to be Fusonese and the other seemed to have been Britainnian from the looks of her clothes. They kept running up and down the giant landing strip and seemed to have been real exhausted from it. At the other end was the sound of that fusonese Major barking out something to them. Bishop was so intrigued by the training session he didn't notice Garcia walking up behind him with a group of five other soldiers.

"The hell are you doin?" Garcia asked as he stopped beside him. "Nothing, just observing the witches training and boy is it rough... for them." Bishop said with his eyes still on the landing strip. At this point, Garcia had his eyes on the landing strip too looking at how rough the witches were getting worked.

"Shit man, they're fucking hurtin." Garcia chuckled out. Bishop turned to his friend who had a small grin on his face.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Bishop asked him. "Man, the only time I like watching a girl breathing hard and struggling is when she's under me in the bed." Garcia said with a grin still on his face. It took a minute for Bishop to register what Garcia just said, but once he did, his eyes widened a bit and his right eyebrow shot up as it kept playing back in his mind.

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?" Bishop questioned with a mix of concern and confusion in his voice. Garcia just realized what he said as well and instantly regret it.

"No, wait, that's not what I meant, I meant like-"

"Remind me to never let you meet my sister...EVER." Bishop said as he emphasized the word. "Shut the fuck up, you knew what I meant." Garcia shouted as he muttered something under his breath in Spanish. "whatever you say you fuckin weirdo." Bishop laughed out.

"By the way, how is she?" Garcia asked. "She's fine, she's just getting used to her new fighter wing." he replied.

"She still in the states?"

"Yeah, she ain't getting sent overseas yet so it's good for mom and good for her, I ain't gotta worry about her getting shot down." Bishop stated.

"If she does get sent over here, she's gonna be fine." Garcia said assuring him.

"If anything I'm gonna be the one to die out here not her."

"Calm down and quit being so damn dramatic, you're gonna see them again man, we just gotta keep fighting for a little bit longer and this gonna end soon." Garcia said. The Corporal took a bit of comfort from the words said by Garcia and kind of took it off his mind.

"Aw shit," Garcia exclaimed causing Bishop to lose his thought, "I think the major is lookin straight at us." Bishop turned his head from Garcia to the end of the landing strip where the Major was standing with the two witches on the ground in front of her trying to catch their breath. What caught his attention was the fact she was staring them down. Bishop muttered "oh damn" under his breath as still stared at their small group. Even though she was a bit far, They could make out that she had a smile on her face.

"What she smiling for, I don't like it, makes me uneasy." Garcia said. "Shit, me too." Bishop replied. They noticed that the Major had said something to the two witches that were on the ground, making them get up and collect themselves. After that, the major and the two began walking towards the group who were about a hundred and fifty meters away from each other. "Shit she coming this way, what do we do." Garcia asked with his voice sounding a little nervous.

"We meet her halfway." And with that, Bishop began walking towards her as well, with Garcia right behind him and their small group of soldiers falling a little bit behind them. They expected to be chewed out for staring too long at the witches and not minding their own business. But, it was the complete opposite of that.

"Well hello there Corporals." Major Sakamoto Asked the men with a smile across her face. "We're doing good Ma'am, how are you today?" Bishop asked back returning the smile.

"Doing great, Just training the new recruits, you've met Sgt. Bishop and Sgt. Miyafuji, correct?" Sakamoto asked. "Of course Ma'am, they were both helping out when a few of our guys needed medical attention after that last attack. Sergeant Miyafuji even healed my broken arm." Bishop said holding up his now healed limb.

"Well, were in the middle of our physical training session and I couldn't help but notice you two from afar." Sakamoto said. "Apologies, Ma'am," Bishop said, "We were just lookin at how different witches training is from our training."

"Oh, no worries," Sakamoto shrugged it off, " I keep telling these girls is what they'll need more than magical strength is their physical strength."

"Well all do respect, ma'am, but all us ground pounders got to rely on is our physical strength." Bishop jokingly said.

"I've seen that, corporal, and that lead me to an idea. what better way for these two to get some good physical training than to learn from infantrymen themselves?" Sakamoto rhetorically asked. "Sounds like a good idea ma'am, but we were just about to get a little bit of our pt session in and we wouldn't want to mess with y'alls." Bishop politely said. "But I could give you an even better suggestion."

"I'm all ears." Sakamoto said with intrigue.

"AYE, NEW GUY GET OVER HERE!" Bishop shouted at the group of five soldiers behind him.

"MOVING CORPORAL!" Someone shouted out of it from behind. A second later a young man who looked as if he was at least fourteen came running out of it and heading towards Bishop and Garcia. He only stopped a few feet from the group and got into the parade rest stance to address Bishop.

"Corporal." the young man stated. Anyone could tell by his babyface, the single chevron on his shoulder, and the way he went about himself, that he was the newest person in the company, which was why he was chosen out of everybody else.

"Ma'am I would like to introduce you to the newest member of D company, Pvt. Powell. He's also our companies combat photographer." Bishop introduced the young man as he was adjusting his glasses. " I think it would be better if Powell acted as the pace man for your training session. He's probably one of our best privates here if you want him." Bishop said point at the young man.

"That would be a much better idea corporal, great thinking." Sakamoto praised him.

"Hey Powell?" Bishop said, looking at the young man. " uuuuh, y-yes corporal?" The young boy replied with some nervousness in his voice.

"How would you like to go and have a little training session with Major Sakamoto and her witches?" Bishop asked. Powell's eyes had widened as he shook his head side to side and whispered a "please no" under his breath.

"Great, good to know that your up for anything." Bishop stated as he clearly ignored Powell's answer. With that, Bishop grabbed Powell and gave him a slight nudge towards the group of witches and almost made him trip over. He gained his balance as he stopped in front of the two witches who he looked down on and made eye contact with both of them. It was broken by the sound of Bishop and Garcia leaving with the remaining soldiers he was with.

"Okay ma'am, he's all yours, be sure to give him a good pt session." Bishop said as he was now walking away from them. Powell got puzzled and confused plastered on his face as he looked back on the group who had finally got a good distance away. Powell felt today was gonna be a real bad day for him.

"Now, what was your name again, soldier?" Sakamoto asked as he focused on her.

"Uuuuuh, p-private Marcus Powell ma'am." Powell replied. "Well Private I expect effort from you today, understood?"

"Yes ma'am." Powell replied as he took his jacket off leaving only his White shirt and dog tags on.

"Alright YOU THREE, START THE PUSHUPS LETS GO." Sakamoto shouted.

"Yes ma'am." all the three of them responded in unison as Powell just began knocking out the push ups. Moments later, the two witches lay sweaty and tired from the intense training. Powell stood there taking a knee and catching his breath. He was looking a lot better than the witches who had to keep the up with him for a minute.

"Well done Pvt. Powell, we should try this again next time, wouldn't you agree?" Sakamoto asked.

"Depends on want the sergeants or corporals say, ma'am." Powell replied.

"Well you can return to back to your superiors, I need to take these two for the next part of their training."

"Yes ma'am." Powell gladly said as he grabbed his top and headed back to find anyone from his unit.

Two days later...

Two days had pasted, it was nighttime and everyone is asleep...almost everyone. In the one of the barracks, fast asleep, was private Marcus Powell. He was fast asleep enjoying some much needed rest until he was smacked in the head by someone holding a flashlight and a weapon slung over his shoulder. He almost got up and swung on the figure until he could see who it was.

"Uh, Corporal Garcia what is it?" Powell asked. "You got next guard shift,new guy." Garcia responded. "So get your weapon and have a nice night. Powell was immediately disappointed. to have his slumber cut short by guard was the worse. He finally got his clothes and gear and finally walked outside to start his shift.

He finally got to the landing strip and decided to sit at the edge and relax a bit. he decided to pull out a box of cigarettes from his left pocket and tore it open. He grabbed one and put it between his lips and rumbled around his pockets looking for his lighter. He flicked it open and put it to the cigarette as he took a puff of it,

Powell just sat at the edge looking at the sky for a minute taking a puff of his cigarette before he heard footsteps behind him. His shift wasn't over so he wondered who it was. He turned to see it was Yoshika approaching.

"Private Powell?" She asked getting a closer look at the dark skinned boy.

"Sergeant Miyafuji," Powell replied crushing his cigarette into the ground to try and be polite, " what're you doin out here so late?" he asked.

"I couldn't really sleep so I came out here," She replied as she sat down next to him. They both sat their for a few seconds before he noticed their was something on Miyafuji's mind based on the facial she had.

"Bad day, sarge?" He asked. The question caught her a bit by surprise as her head popped up and looked at him while he was looking back waiting for a answer.

"Yeah, I got in trouble today." Yoshika said with a frown.

"I know what you mean sarge, I've been having one of those days too." Powell said.

"You have?" Miyafuji asked.

"Yep, its been a pretty rough day but, I just learned to roll with the punches." Powell tried assuring the young witch.

"I know, I just have to try harder next time." Miyafuji stated.

I Can respect that sarge." Powell. At this point, he just wanted to smoke a bit but that wasn't going to happen when the next person came next to them.

"Sergeant Miyafuji, Private Powell." They both turned around to find the source of the timid sounding voice to be Sgt. Bishop, and Yoshika was the first to greet her. Powell said hello but was still waiting for them to leave so he could finally light his cigarette in peace.

The three talked with each other for a few moments with Yoshika repeating everything she said to Lynette. Now, Powell was at the point where he had to have a cigarette. He finally got up off the ledge bid the girls goodbye and walked down the strip. Once he was out of sight he took another cigarette out his pocket put it in his mouth. He took another long drag out of it and exhaled the smoke up into the sky. He was finally enjoying it until Someone walked up behind him.

"Soldier." the person behind him said as it made him jump a bit and cough up the smoke that was still in his lungs. He turned around to see a red haired woman staring at him with her arms crossed, looking like a mother who just caught her child's hand in the cookie jar.

"Uh, Ma'am." Powell blurted out.

"Aren't you a little bit young to be smoking, soldier?" Minna asked him as he carried the stick of tobacco in his mouth. The boy had no answer to give her except for a nervous little smile.

"What are you doing out here so late?" She asked him, noticing the rifle on his shoulder. "Night guard, Ma'am."

"Night guard?" She confusingly asked.

"Yes ma'am, our company takes shifts to patrol around the base in case of attack." Powell said. Minna just looked and smiled at the young man.

"You can go back to sleep now, soldier." Minna said as she could clearly see bags under his eyes.

"But ma'am, night guard, and my shift isn't over yet." Powell explained.

"Not only do we have a witch out for that, we also have men in the tower operating comms. Your free to go." Minna stated.

"Yes ma'am." And with that, Powell darted back to the barracks to lay in his bed, and get ready for the next day.

I'm gonna admit this was a shit chapter cuz it was pretty rushed and i'm pretty sleep deprived right now trying to finish it. I know it's supposed to be mostly pov which it will but like I said, pretty rushed. I'll a lot better on the next chapters, any questions and comments just dm me. But hey... I'm Baaaaaaaaaaack.